In an Aug. 2, 1972, photograph, West Town Mall is officially opened. The News-Sentinel reported the mall is predicted to have a sales volume of $60 million to 75 million per year and serve 20,000 customers. The 69-acre site was said to be equivalent in size " to stores 50 feet deep on both sides of Gay Street from the Gay Street Bridge north to Magnolia Avenue." (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a July, 11, 1974, photograph, Jake Butcher meets University of Tennessee students Janice Cole, center, and Marty Carroll while campaigning for his first run for governor in which he lost the Democratic primary election to Ray Blanton. Four years later Butcher won the primary but lost the general election to Republican Lamar Alexander. (KNS Archive)

In a May 11, 1976, photograph, Robert D. Patty's .30 caliber rifle rests on the sidewalk outside the S.H. Kress store after Patty went on a shooting spree that killed three people. Patty had purchased the gun eight days before the murders at Sears, Roebuck, and Co. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In an Aug. 2, 1972, photograph, some of the "very first" shoppers are seen at West Town Mall after it officially opened. The News-Sentinel reported that the Proffitt's and J.C. Penney stores opened that day, joining the Miller's store which had opened on March 13. The Sears, Roebuck, and Co. store would not open until July 1973. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

Former Tennessee teammates Bernard King of the New Jersey Nets, left, and Ernie Grunfeld of the Milwaukee Bucks are seen together on Nov. 16, 1977. (AP Photo)

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In a May 11, 1976, photograph, accused Gay Street killer Robert D. Patty is escorted by Knoxville Police Department officers Paul Fish, right, and Kenneth Sloan after his arrest for fatally shooting three people on Gay Street. Patty had been released from Lakeshore Mental Health Institute four months earlier and was an outpatient at Helen Ross McNabb Center at the time of the shootings. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

The May 13, 1972, edition of the Knoxville News Sentinel reports on the tragic bus accident in Bean Station. Mickey Creager was the paper's photographer on the scene. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

Though the photograph has disappeared from the News-Sentinel archive, a clipping from the paper's March 3, 1974, edition shows photographer Mickey Creager's image of a streaker engaging in the latest college craze. The paper reported the young man - carrying a Fourth of July type sparkler and wearing only a hat, tie, sunglasses and shoes - jogged down the middle of Cumberland Avenue to the delight of some 350 spectators who cheered him on. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

A wanted poster for Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary escapee James Earl Ray, who slipped out with six other convicts on June 10, 1977. Ray, serving 99 years for the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was recaptured three days later. (AP Photo)

FEDERA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

Interstate 40 traffic is backed up on the approach to Malfunction Junction in a Nov. 3, 1978, photograph. (Jack Kirkland/News Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel

Film director Clarence Brown arrives at Municipal Airport with actress Jane Wyman on Nov. 12, 1970, for the dedication of the Clarence Brown Theatre for the Performing Arts. The gala featured an invitation-only screening of Brown's film "The Yearling," featuring Wyman. The University of Tennessee reception committee includes President and Mrs. Ed Boling, right, and Mr. & Mrs. Charles Brakebill. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a June 6, 1973, photograph, Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr., vice chairman of the Senate Watergate investigating committee, right, listens to testimony during the Watergate hearings in Washington, D.C. At left is Fred Thompson, the committee's minority counsel. 6/6/73 AP Wirephoto

AP

University of Tennessee basketball player Bernard King attempts a basket in a Nov. 25, 1975, game. (KNS Archive)

2012 Knoxville News Sentinel

Fred D. Thompson, Chief Minority Counsel of the Senate Watergate Committee, left, is seen with Sen. Howard Baker during the Watergate hearings in Washington, May 17, 1973. (AP Photo)

The May 29, 1970, edition of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported on President Richard Nixon's appearance at the Billy Graham East Tennessee Crusade at Neyland Stadium. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

James and Dorothy Wade in 1966, owners of Wade's Bakery which was begun in 1947. (Wade Family)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In an Oct. 20, 1979, photograph, Tellico Dam opponents rally at the Overhill Cherokee's Chota site in a last ditch attempt to save the Little Tennessee River and valley. The crowd, estimated to be 1,000 to 2,000 people, had to contend with 150 pounds of nails that littered access roads and a 16-stick dynamite bomb found on-site. (Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a photograph published March 4, 1974, a streaker stands atop a second story billboard in the 1800 block of Cumberland Avenue. The News-Sentinel reported that "police blocked off a portion of Cumberland Avenue for the second straight night while dozens of nude streakers dashed through lustily cheering crowds." (Jack Kirkland/News-Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel

Amazing Rhythm Aces band members Russell Smith, left, Billy Earheart and Barry (Byrd) Burton in a Feb. 2, 1976, photograph. The band was a longtime local favorite before they gained national attention with the song "Third Rate Romance." Smith said he got the idea for the song while at Ruby Tuesday on Kingston Pike. "I saw this man and woman sitting at a tiny table," he recalled. "They went outside and got into separate cars and one left following the other." (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

University of Tennessee basketball player Ernie Grunfield attempts a basket in a Nov. 11, 1973, game. (KNS Archive)

2012 Knoxville News Sentinel

In a May 28, 1970, photograph, Billy Graham, left, and President Richard Nixon stand before a crowd of 75,000 people during the evangelist 's East Tennessee Crusade at Neyland Stadium. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a Sept. 6, 1978, photograph, Robert D. Patty, right, is seen in Knox County Criminal Court during his trial for fatally shooting three people on Gay Street. Patty was convicted and sentenced to three concurrent life terms in prison. His attorneys had argued that Patty was insane at the time of the slayings. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

The Amazing Rhythm Aces are seen in a photograph promoting a Civic Coliseum concert that was published Feb. 1, 1976, in the News-Sentinel. The band was on a bill with Pure Prairie League and the Flying Burrito Brothers. A bio provided by ABC Records said the group got their break after years of playing Knoxville nightspots and becoming "great favorites with the local winos and weirdos." (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

A June 1968, photograph, shows construction of TVA's $116 million Tellico Dam near Lenoir City. Legal wrangling over a tiny fish called the snail darter tied up completion of the dam for years. In the end, sluice gates finally closed on the dam in 1979, completing a process that began in 1936. More than 340 families had to leave their homes behind. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a May 28, 1970, photograph, protestors are seen during the Billy Graham East Tennessee Crusade at Neyland Stadium. Students were protesting the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings which happened earlier that month. (University of Tennessee Libraries)

In a May 22, 1979, photograph, B.L. Perkins Market on Wilkinson Pike in Maryville has gone without gasoline for ten straight days. Sympathetic customers, lamenting the death of the market's once active pumps, placed the wreaths. B.L. Perkins, right, said he hopes to have a minister come by to say a few words over the departed. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In an April 14, 1969, photograph, Knoxville Police Department Intelligence Officer Randy Tyree shows marijuana plants and a grow light confiscated during a raid on a Washington Pike home. Two years later as Safety Director, Tyree would lead the Operation Aquarius drug raids. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a photograph dated September 27, 1979, bystanders gather near Knoxville Business College where Louis Posey has taken students hostage. (Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a Jan. 15, 1970, photograph, Knoxville Police Department Officer Larry Cox arrests a youth during a demonstration at the University of Tennessee. The News-Sentinel caption writer helpfully recorded that police officers wore new blue and white helmets for the first time. It was the first time out for the protective plastic shields, too. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In an Oct. 19, 1979, photograph, canoeists paddle the Little Tennessee River during a rally opposing the Tellico Dam. Less than than two months later, six gates closed on the dam, flooding 16,000 acres of the Little Tennessee River valley. (J. Miles Cary/News Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a Sept. 6, 1978, photograph, Robert D. Patty, left, is seen in Knox County Criminal Court during his trial for fatally shooting three people on Gay Street. Patty was convicted and sentenced to three concurrent life terms in prison. His attorneys had argued that Patty was insane at the time of the slayings. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

A News-Sentinel caption writer recorded a milestone in Victor Ashe's political career on Nov. 5, 1974: Hurrah for Mom! Mrs. Robert L. (Martha) Ashe is joined by her sons after winning the Seventh District Senate race as the Republican candidate. Mrs. Ashe ran as a stand-in for her son, Victor, right, after the Supreme Court ruled he didn't meet the age requirement. Her other son, R. Lawrence Ashe Jr., came from Atlanta where he is a lawyer, to help celebrate the occasion. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In an Jan. 16, 1975, photograph, shoppers crowd a sales table at West Town Mall. "It was every gal for herself at the $1 table at West Town's Sidewalk Sale as January bargain hunters converged on the Mall at door-opening time," according to a News-Sentinel caption writer. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a June 1, 1978, photograph, Mayor Randy Tyree, left, Jake Butcher, and County Trustee Bob Broome take part in a topping-out ceremony for the 27-story United American Bank building. Butcher, holding a lucky evergreen tree for placement on the building's last steel beam, had recently resigned from United American to run for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. (KNS Archive)

2012 Knoxville News Sentinel

In a Nov. 1, 1979, photograph, local hero John Tate is welcomed back to Knoxville after defeating Gerrie Coetzee to win the World Boxing Association heavyweight championship in Pretoria, South Africa. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

The Wade's Bakery at North Broadway and the Dutch Valley railroad underpass. Founded in 1947 by James G. Wade, the company opened a large baking facility on Holston Drive in 1970. (Wade Family)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a March 13, 1978, photograph, construction progresses on the United American Bank building. (Jack Kirkland/News Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel

News-Sentinel city editor Homer Clonts was sitting at the lunch counter of S.H. Kress on May 11, 1976, when Robert D. Patty began his shooting rampage outside the store.

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a May 11, 1976, photograph, people gather along Gay Street near the scene where Robert D. Patty killed three people. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

Early work during the construction of Tellico Dam is seen Sept. 20, 1967. The dotted line shows where the dam will stretch across the river. (KNS archive)

In an Oct. 2, 1979, photograph, Tellico Dam opponent Jean Richey is seen at her home. Richey was one of the last three people removed from their land for the Tellico Dam project. (KNS Archive)

A May 1969, photograph, shows officials Roger Houseman, left, of Chrysler Realty Corporation, and Oliver Smith Jr., (along with Smith's secretary, Mrs. Douglas Wheeling) touting the future West Town Mall. Smith was one of the original land owners where the mall was built. The August 1970 opening date was off by two years. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a Nov. 11, 1979, photograph, Tellico Dam opponent Nellie McCall is seen at her home in Greenback. McCall refused to sell her land for the Tellico Dam project and had to be removed by federal marshals shortly before the dam's sluice gates closed. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In an Oct. 19, 1979, photograph, Tellico Dam backers show their sentiments on a sign posted near a three-day rally and camp out of dam opponents along the Little Tennessee River. (J. Miles Cary/News Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a Feb. 19, 1977, photograph, Monroe County 4-H Club members show what they think about the TVA Tellico Dam project outside a hearing conducted by U.S. Rep. John Duncan in Madisonville. The News-Sentinel reported that most of the Monroe County residents attending were in favor of the dam and voiced resentment over "outsiders" who spoke against it. (KNS archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a September 27, 1979, photograph, Louis Posey points a pistol at himself during a 3-hour standoff with police at Knoxville Business College. The 27-year-old student told 30 members of a psychology class that he would shoot himself if any of them left. (Dave Carter/News Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel

Coach Johnny Majors is carried from the field after the Vols defeated Notre Dame 40-18 on Oct. 10, 1979, at Neyland Stadium. (KNS Archive)

The August 22, 1971, edition of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported about the Operation Aquarius drug raids lead by Safety Director Randy Tyree. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a May 28, 1970, photograph, President Richard Nixon delivers a speech during the Billy Graham East Tennessee Crusade at Neyland Stadium. It was Nixon's first appearance at a college campus since the Kent State shootings earlier in the month. (University of Tennessee Libraries)

The University of Tennessee football team's Nov. 7, 1959, upset of No. 1 LSU at Neyland Stadium is recorded in a Dyergram by Knoxville News-Sentinel editorial artist Bill Dyer. (KNS Archive)

In a November 7, 1977, photograph, the future location of the United American Bank is seen at the corner of Gay Street and Cumberland Avenue. (Jack Kirkland/News Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a November 19, 1979, photograph, Louis Posey is taken into custody by Knoxville Police Department Officer Tommy Stiles after a 11-hour standoff at Knoxville Business College. Posey held a 30-30 rifle, threatening to kill himself, in a repeat of a similar performance less than two months earlier. (J. Miles Cary/News Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a May 28, 1970, photograph, a protestor displays a sign during the Billy Graham East Tennessee Crusade at Neyland Stadium. Forty-seven protestors were arrested during the crusade, with one case - that of UT religious studies Professor Charles Reynolds - almost going to the Supreme Court. (University of Tennessee Libraries)

Charlie Daniel cartoon about the Sunshine Law. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

Knoxville News-Sentinel editorial artist Bill Dyer was known for his Dyergrams, which were sports features which gave readers a play-by-play record of University of Tennessee football games. Dyer died in 1976 at age 63 after 41 years at the paper. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

A July 24, 1981, photograph, shows construction underway at the intersection of Interstate 40 and Interstate 75, popularly known as Malfunction Junction. (Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel

In a November 7, 1977, photograph, construction progresses on the United American Bank building. (Jack Kirkland/News Sentinel)

Knoxville News Sentinel

Johnny Cash, left, and George Beverly Shea preach to an estimated 75,000 people during the Billy Graham Crusade May 24, 1970, at Neyland Stadium. The crusade began on Friday, May 22, and ran through Sunday, May 31. (KNS Archive)

In a May 11, 1976, photograph, accused Gay Street killer Robert D. Patty is seen in custody after his arrest for fatally shooting three people on Gay Street. The News-Sentinel reported that records on file at the county clerk's office indicated Patty had been treated for mental problems three times in the two years prior to the shootings. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

Alice Cooper, seen at bottom center in a publicity photo, slithered into Knoxville music history in an incident during his 1972 tour. Cooper's boa constrictor, Chena, went missing at the Hyatt and was found weeks later by country performer Charly Pride during his stay at the hotel. (KNS Archive)

Knoxville News Sentinel

Film director Clarence Brown, left, his wife, Marian, and University of Tennessee retiring President Andy Holt pose for a News-Sentinel photographer during a ceremonial setting of the cornerstone at the new $1.15 million Clarence Brown Theatre for the Performing Arts on May 9, 1970. "It's the greatest in the world," said Brown of the theater to which he donated $50,000. "This theater starts where all the others leave off - its uniqueness in design - it's just ahead of its time." (KNS Archive)

2012 Knoxville News Sentinel

An unpublished Nov. 13, 1970, photograph, shows film director Clarence Brown and his wife Marian, arriving for the gala dedication of the Clarence Brown Theatre for the Performing Arts. The evening featured an invitation-only screening of Brown's film "The Yearling." (KNS Archive)